Vintage find: The Grassroots press release

A million years ago, in the days of dinosaurs and social media still being fun, I volunteered to edit an anthology called Grassroots, put together by the creative folk on one of Warren Ellis’s message boards. This was after the Warren Ellis Forum, in the early days of Whitechapel.

Grassroots itself was lost a few site and hard drive crashes ago, but I just uncovered this press release from days of yore.

Press release itself is below the “Read More” cut.

Grassroots – Art and storytelling, straight from the source.

A group of comic writers and artists have banded together to create a superb sampler of stories in order to bring more attention to their work, which they called the Grassroots anthology.

Grassroots is a declaration that there’s a home-grown art movement that’s ripe with new ideas and new creators ready to make their mark on the world of comics.

Written, drawn, lettered and coloured by a collection of international creators, this collection of stories is a showcase of the unique art and storytelling being made every day by independent comic makers.

Encouraged by the easy access and accessibility of the internet, many comic creators have found that cyberspace is a great way to exhibit their stories without the restraints of the corporate marketplace.

Given the freedom to do whatever they like, without having to worry about the expense of physical publishing, these creators have let their imaginations and talents run riot across the digital landscape.

There are thousands of people all over the world who are reading and creating stories for a massively varied audience. The scale of this often goes unnoticed, even by those who accept comics as a legitimate art form. This venture is, in part, an exercise in bringing attention to this movement.

The Grassroots anthology presents only a small fraction of this movement, to show how varied this art form is and to profile the dedicated artists and writers that produce thousands of pages of stories each year, all because of their dedication and love for the comics medium.

Independent comics and the web comic movement deserve wider attention, because they display a high level of ideas, talent and innovation. However, it’s a movement in which the creators care more about getting the work done and out there than publicising it. The Grassroots anthology was designed to act as a small sampler for the scene, and to encourage journalists and anyone with an interest in comics to find out more.

Brendan McGinley, one of the project’s organisers commented: “One of my favorite movies is Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian.’ It didn’t get filmed because market research demanded a scathing satire of religion. It got made because it entertained the Pythons. We put Grassroots together not to score mass market appeal, but to explore the ideas that interest their creators. We’re here, making a vast breadth of comics, because these are the stories we love so much we had to make them.”

NOTES: Grassroots can be found online at: www.indeliblecomics.com Its creators and editors are also available for interview. Please contact Brendan McGinley to arrange interviews, quotes or for print-resolution images. If you would like a PDF version of Grassroots it can be downloaded by theme at: